Duke-Wisconsin MBB pre-game/in-game thread

[throatybeard]

Tonight at 9 EST, Duke faces the flagship university of one of my favorite states, New Germany, er, Wisconsin, the land of real beer and good cheese.

[dukestheheat]

throaty-

you mention beer and cheese and the land and all that, but on to the most important question in all of this: what about the girls?

dth.

[Indoor66]

throaty-

you mention beer and cheese and the land and all that, but on to the most important question in all of this: what about the girls?

dth.

Sexists thoughts entered my head....

[throatybeard]

One thing that has been a bit of a learning experience for me is that the Midwest has actual real blondes. Spending the first 31 years of my life in the South, I'd come to believe that 97% of "blondes" over the age of twenty were brunettes with yellow dye on their head and dark roots.

[Indoor66]

One thing that has been a bit of a learning experience for me is that the Midwest has actual real blondes. Spending the first 31 years of my life in the South, I'd come to believe that 97% of "blondes" over the age of twenty were brunettes with yellow dye on their head and dark roots.

Ahh, that wonderful Scandinavian stock. I love Annika as well.

[captmojo]

The First Mate comes from South Norwiegia, the land of blooming flowers and jumping bunnies, where fish leap into your boat and songbirds chirp on your hand. It only rains there overnight, while everyone is contentedly snoozing. The sun shines everyday and there is a permanent rainbow in the western sky. Never a discouraging word is spoken. The people live in total harmony and all needs are freely met.:) :) :) :)

[Troublemaker]

Game is currently lined at Duke -9 and could be rising (opened at 8). That seems high to me. It IS Wisconsin's first game of the season outside of Madison, so Duke may jump out to a quick lead on them, making the game seem like it'll be a blowout, but once Wisconsin settles down, I expect that they'll go toe-to-toe with Duke and perhaps give us our first loss in the ACC-Big 10 Challenge and of the season. If Trevon Hughes (their only true PG and leading minutes guy) can stay out of foul trouble, I expect an excellent test and another building-block game for Duke.

Wisconsin may start big with their 6-11 twin towers but I expect that they'll play the majority of the game small so they can put either 6-7 Landry or 6-7 Krabbenhoft, both good defenders, on Singler. Going small also allows them to put a very good defensive guard in Flowers or another shooter in Bohanon on the floor. They're not a great 3-pt shooting team so some zone may be effective. They ARE a very good defensive team so if this becomes another game where we shoot over 50%, that will be quite the accomplishment. They have a shotblocker in Stiesma, athleticism, smarts, and are well-coached. Offensively, they'll rely on Hughes for penetration and they'll probably try to post Landry, especially if they stay big and one of our guards have to take him. Their bigs, especially Butch, can hit from outside. And they can reverse the ball to Hughes and Bohanon for open threes. They protect the ball well, which is key against Duke and will allow them to get shots up so they can offensive rebound.

[mus074]

Game is currently lined at Duke -9 and could be rising (opened at 8). That seems high to me.

Wisconsin is for real. I think Duke should be the favorite, but anything more than a few points is a gift for badger backers.

Pomeroy's stats like Duke a lot (7th with the 13th best offense and 10th best defense). But Wisconsin is rated first overall (37th offense and 4th defense). Granted Wisconsin has played a very weak sked so far, and they are likely not the 5-point favorite Pomeroy's rating would give them, but to give Wisconsin 8 or 9 points? You can't pass that up. Theoretically speaking, if you were betting in LV, of course. ;)

FYI, our upcoming tilt with Pitt in NYC will also be a much better game than the general public will think, as Pitt is 3rd overall (6th in offense, 12th in defense). Despite those who poo pooed this schedule, I am quite pleased with Duke's early season tests. Let's just hope we pass, if not set the curve.

[mus074]

Here we go again with a break down on what it looks like on paper:

Wisconsin excels on offense at low turnovers, hellaciously high offensive boards and plays a slower paced game. They shoot two much better and more often than threes (relative to other team's ratios). Their defense excels at all four aspects on the game: they gather in a higher percentage of boards than anyone in the country, they allow woefully low shooting both inside the arc and out, commit very few fouls, and create a lot of turnovers. Their defense is just stifling. However, their competition has been quite weak so far, so the raw numbers are likely inflated when compared to the other 340 teams. Wisconsin's pace is notoriously glacial, but has been slightly quicker this year.

Duke's offense will have its work cut out for it. Turnovers and rebounds are Duke's harbingers of success - as these stats go, so goes Duke's performance so far. And the Badger excels in these areas. Duke's shooting has been its strength, but Bucky is also strong there. Plainly, this will be a huge test for our developing "new" offense.

Duke's defense could be the key to the game. Turnovers and rebounds will again be the story. But our strength of allowing only poor 2FG shooting will match up against their strength. Like previous slower opponents, we can try to push the tempo with turn overs, steals and boards.

No rocket science here. A big yardstick for Duke, and bigger than most will give credit for. Expect a nailbiter.

In the end, the team that can impose its will on the game style will prevail. Duke's closer contests against good matchups in Illinois and Marquette could give the home team the advantage in the final four minutes.

Go Devils!

[riverside6]

One thing exciting about tonight's game is that ESPN will actually have it in HD for once!

[DBFAN]

I don't mean to sound to harsh, but I think you guys are giving your team very little credit. I really do not expect this game to be that close, sure they are big, but how many times have they played in Durham? The fact is this team of ours is miles ahead of the team we had last year at this time. I am not positive but Wisconsin is not ranked are they? I mean I know anything can happen, but the most likely thing to happen tonight is Duke winning. I think we jump out early and they never get back into it.

Duke-81
Wisc-69

[phaedrus]

I've talked about Wisconsin on the other thread, and I hope UW has a great season this year, but all I have to say is this: my friend, a 6'5 forward for a D3 college that played an exhibition against UW last month, put up 14 points against them while being guarded by Landry and Butch. I mean, I'd love to have this guy on my rec team, but he sure ain't no Kyle Singler. Wisconsin has not seen the calibre of team they are about to see, and they are in for a rude awakening.

Duke wins, 75-53.

[badgerfan]

but all I have to say is this: my friend, a 6'5 forward for a D3 college that played an exhibition against UW last month, put up 14 points against them while being guarded by Landry and Butch. I mean, I'd love to have this guy on my rec team, but he sure ain't no Kyle Singler. Wisconsin has not seen the calibre of team they are about to see, and they are in for a rude awakening.

Duke wins, 75-53.

This is the dumbest reasoning I've ever seen. Butch and Landry weren't in that game more than 20 minutes a piece, and frankly, someone has to be the leading scorer. Using that reasoning you could just as easily say Duke will destroy Wisconsin on the boards because a 6'6" guy on Edgewood had 7 rebounds or that Wisconsin will be torched from outside because a guy went 4 of 5 from 3 in that game.

[phaedrus]

I didn't intend for it to be construed as "reasoning" - more like gratuitous name-dropping. I'm just excited to see Duke play the same guys that Edgewood - a team of local, short, slow, white guys that I can more easily identify with - played.

Besides, if Butch and Landry were in for 20 a piece, that means one of them could have been guarding him for the whole game. He was being guarded by Landry (primarily) and Butch for the majority of his minutes.

By the way, are you in Madison and if so where are you watching the game?

[Troublemaker]

Haha, Charles Futrell scored 17 points on 7-13 shooting against Duke this season. Who? Some dude on NC Central.

That said, I do agree that the "step up" in competition might hurt Wiscy, especially with this being their first game away from Madison. I'd like to see Duke begin the game by full-court pressing while the Crazies are at their most amped. Wiscy will also likely start big with Butch and Stiesma and I want to see those two big guys deal with the press and the crowd while there are still butterflies in their stomach. A few turnovers, and I could really see Duke jumping out to like a 15-4 lead before the first TV timeout.

[SilkyJ]

I am not positive but Wisconsin is not ranked are they? I mean I know anything can happen, but the most likely thing to happen tonight is Duke winning. I think we jump out early and they never get back into it.

Duke-81
Wisc-69

Wisconsin is ranked. 20th is the number, I believe.

As for the rest, here's to hoping you are right. Despite this new running style which is supposed to increase our offensive output, we've still been held under 80 pts by our last 3 opponents. I highly doubt we break 80 against this squad.

[EarlJam]

One thing that has been a bit of a learning experience for me is that the Midwest has actual real blondes.

How do you know this? There are some pretty cool ways to find out. Did you know that blondes have less natural body oder than brunettes? Apparently, it's a scientific fact. That said, I've always preferred brunettes.
Though my #1 sports crush has always been Anna Kournikova.

Anyway, go Duke! Beat Wisconsin!

-EarlJam

[throatybeard]

How do you know this?

They can't all have no roots of dyed hair showing at all times.

[DBFAN]

The last game EKU played zone the entire game so they could slow the game down a little, Illinois made no attempt in running, grant it MU played a little more up tempo, but it was the 3rd game in 3 days. If Wisc. tries to run we will easily score over 80, I would imagine though they are not going to try and make it a track meet. I still stand by my score

Duke-81
Wisc-69

[dukestheheat]

i prefer brunettes as well. no doubt about it.

and, throaty, an interesting point you make (I think it was you and in fact, i am waaaaaay too lazy to scroll back up and figure out) on bleached blondes.

girl i work with is naturally brunette (she told me), but she's got it bleached out to blonde and she has the dark roots you're talking about.

i asked her 'why not just be who you are?' and she said, after about two minutes actually thinking about how to answer this question, 'well, i don't really know, i just always wanted to be blonde for some reason'.

dth.

[kydevil]

girl i work with is naturally brunette (she told me), but she's got it bleached out to blonde and she has the dark roots you're talking about.

i asked her 'why not just be who you are?' and she said, after about two minutes actually thinking about how to answer this question, 'well, i don't really know, i just always wanted to be blonde for some reason'.

dth.

I wouldn't tell people you work with her :D jk.

[mgtr]

Though my #1 sports crush has always been Anna Kournikova.


I don't know if you follow TV poker, but in Texas Hold'em they refer to an AK starting hand as Anna Kournikova, because it looks good but rarely wins.

[SilkyJ]

Since I can't be in Cameron and since we ought to bump this, I'll try and imagine what's going on right now:

1!-2!-3!-4!-5!-6!-7!-8!-9!-10!

SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!

SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!

SWIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIITCH!

[mcdukefan]

To to chat . . . http://snrub.ajaxperformance.com/

[mcdukefan]

I should change my name to Mr. Typo!

[dkbaseball]

Just thought I'd vent ahead of time. Since neither IU or GT appears to do anything on offense but take it to the rack and try to draw fouls, maybe this game will finally be over sometime before 9:00, and maybe we'll get to see a couple minutes of the first half of Duke-UW. Stinkin ESPN. Why they assume that watching free throws and time-outs at the end of a game between a couple of hamburgers is more interesting to people than watching basketball being played by two good teams is just beyond me. I'm sort of a grown-up, but this has driven me crazy for twenty years now.

OTOH, Eric Gordon is a marvelous talent, though I think it's going to take Sampson at least a season to bring this bunch together.

[EarlJam]

Anyone have a link to the chat room for the Wisconsin game? Can I have it? Please?

-EarlJam

[mcdukefan]

Chat now! http://snrub.ajaxperformance.com/

[Mabdul Doobakus]

I hate ESPN.

[mgtr]

Were there some nasty remarks about Coach K not playing his bench? Anybody? Anybody?
Very impressive. Wisconsin has to be sorry they ever came to CIS.

[Karl Beem]

I love this. Teams are going to have to prepare for The King. He's our 7th man!:D

[Stray Gator]

I hate ESPN.

They showed the game on ESPNU from tipoff until the telecast was picked up on ESPN-HD.

[Karl Beem]

I love boring wins.

[Mabdul Doobakus]

They showed the game on ESPNU from tipoff until the telecast was picked up on ESPN-HD.

I don't get ESPNU.


This game was easier than I expected.

[Stray Gator]

I don't get ESPNU.


This game was easier than I expected.

First half was easy. Second half Wisc shredded our defense inside until we went to the delay. Fortunately, we were able to trade baskets and maintain the cushion.